Auctions
Which Artists Broke Their Auction Records This Week in London?
Even a soft market couldn't prevent records from being set.
Brian Boucher
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Christie’s and Phillips conducted robust sales of modern and contemporary art this week in London, as the Frieze London and Frieze Masters fairs, together with the auctions, brought collectors from all over the world. A number of the prices set records for their artists at auction, all at Christie’s.
Who achieved new highs?
Adrian Ghenie, Nickelodeon (2008), £7.1 million ($9 million)
Eight figures stretch across this 13-foot-wide painting, which featured in the Romanian artist’s first UK solo show, at Haunch of Venison in 2009. After the sale, Los Angeles dealer Stefan Simchowitz told The Art Newspaper that “Ghenie is positioned as the next Bacon.”
Gerald Laing, Beach Wear (1964), £1.6 million ($1.99 million)
This canvas had been unseen in public for over five decades, ever since Richard Feigen sold it for just $750 to the collector, who sold it on Thursday.
Albert Oehlen, Untitled (Statue of Liberty) (1989), £1.3 million ($1.7 million)
Amédée Ozenfant, Verrerie (1925), £557,000 ($710,549), at Christie’s on Tuesday, October 4.* (N.B.: When priced in dollars, an Ozenfant that sold at Sotheby’s London in 2008 for $784,304 remains the record. The discrepancy indicates the fall in the value of the pound.)
Imi Knoebel, Grace Kelly (1989), £365,000 ($463,185)
Lucy McKenzie, Olga Korbut (1998), £317,000 ($402,273)
This striking painting of the Russian gymnast inspired bidders to send the price to more than 10 times its high estimate.
Michael Craig-Martin, Las Meninas (2000), £149,000 ($190,075), at Christie’s
Henry Taylor, Walking with Vito (2008), £137,000 ($173,990)
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